Sweets consisting of an outer shell of hard candy and a softer filling are at present made by forming the hard candy into a hollow rope, introducing the filling continuously into the centre of the rope, reducing the diameter of the filled rope by passage through sizing rollers and moulding it into individual filled sweets by passing the rope between moulding wheels having co-operating moulding cavities.
This procedure, although it produces sweets which are otherwise wholly acceptable, has the disadvantage that the kneading action to which the hard candy is subjected, during formation of the rope and subsequent moulding, results in loss of clarity in the outer shell and a resulting loss in customer appeal.
Centre filled sweets having an outer shell of fondant and like materials are made by deposition of the ingredients from a moving head depositor into moulds travelling continuously in procession beneath the depositor. The moulds normally extend between parallel conveyor chains and in the case of small moulds are disposed in rows aligned transversely with respect to the chains. The depositor is divided into compartments to contain the materials which are to form the shells and the centres of the sweets, moves forwardly with the conveyor and then back again and pumps material through coaxial nozzles into the moulds during the forward movement of the hopper.
A depositing procedure, using single nozzles, can be used to deposit hard candy directly into moulds to produce sweets consisting solely of clear hard candy. Existing forms of depositor cannot, however, be used for filled hard candy because it is necessary to deposit hard candy at a relatively high temperature, approximately 138.degree. C, whereas the softer filling contains a substantial amount of moisture and requires to be deposited at a temperature of the order of 70.degree. C. Accordingly, the interface temperature, when a conventional hopper is used, between the shell and the centre at the time of deposit will be above the boiling point of the filling material and the centre material will boil out and burst through the shell.